Dhanmondi Shahi Eidgah

• 1. Introduction

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  The Dhanmondi Shahi Eidgah stands on Saat Masjid road in Dhaka's Dhanmondi residential area, and it has been welcoming worshippers for Eid prayers since 1640. That makes it the oldest surviving Mughal monument in Dhaka city. No other structure in the capital carries the same architectural forms and features. Conservationist architect Abu Sayeed M Ahmed put it plainly: "This Eidgah is the oldest surviving Mughal monument in Dhaka city. There is no second one with the architectural forms and features similar to it." The questions worth asking are: who built it, what makes its architecture so singular, and what threatens to erase it from Dhaka's landscape today?

• 2. A Diwan's Monument

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  Mir Abul Qasim ordered the construction of the Eidgah during the reign of Shah Shuja. Qasim held the position of Diwan under Shah Shuja, and he was also the builder of Boro Katra, another landmark of the Mughal period in Dhaka. The Mughal subahdars and diwans who governed the region made the Eidgah the site of their Eid prayers. During the Mughal period, a river branch flowed beside the Eidgah, connecting to the river near Saat Masjid, and the city's most powerful officials would arrive along that waterway to gather here. The Eidgah spreads over around 3.5 bighas of land, and people still gather at the place for Eid prayer congregation today.

• 3. Walls, Arches, and Battlements

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  The Eidgah platform measured 148 feet by 137 feet and was raised 4-6 feet above the surrounding land. Its plan was oblong, with thick brick walls enclosing the courtyard on every side except the east. Only one section of that wall survives intact: the western wall, standing 15 feet high. Set into it is a semi-octagonal Mihrab with a four-centred and stilted arch that recesses 5 feet into the wall's depth, carrying an inscription above it. Multi-cusped arch decoration and shallow subsidiary niches, three on each side, frame the Mihrab. The surrounding walls likely carried perforations along their upper sections, and a row of battlements crowned the tops. The projected parts of the walls and the diminishing sections on the western wall were finished like a fort, with additional decorative elements at the corners. The placement and shapes of those battlements served both structural and aesthetic purposes, giving the ensemble a quality that the Department of Archaeology later recognised as worthy of a listed archaeological site designation.

• 4. Threats to the Structure

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  A six-storeyed mosque is under construction on the Eidgah's own premises, and it is being built without approval from Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha, known as Rajuk, as required under the Building Construction Act and Dhaka Metropolitan Building Rules. Architect Abu Sayeed M Ahmed warned that rig vibrations from the new construction may have already weakened the historic Eidgah structure. He also said, "It is a very bad choice of site for construction of a huge building, as it has spoilt the elegant look of the heritage monument." Atiqul Habib, secretary general of the Dhanmondi Eidgah Mosque Committee, stated that the old mosque would be demolished to complete the new one. The Dhaka Metropolitan Building Rules of 2008 require that any development within a 250-metre radius of an archaeological and heritage site must first secure permission from the Nagar Unnayan Committee before even approaching Rajuk for plan approval. A grocery shop that the mosque committee converted into an Islamic Research Centre now sits within ten feet of the Eidgah's central Mihrab. Devotees and visitors who come for Eid congregation now have to take a detour around the new mosque building just to reach the historic Mughal Eidgah itself.